Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 19

IIATIIICEC cOW WE ARE FOUR SCREE NS A COMING 46 MATINEES SAT. SUN. THEATRE ues 3RD "Smashingly "The hit thriller ALWAYS FOUR DIFFERENT PROGRAMS 1 of the first rate." Vincent Canby, N.Y. Times HELD OVER 2ND WEEK! Everything happens on theboulevard-and the boulevard happens at night. Gene Shalit.

NBC-TV IF THIS ONE DOESN'T SCARE YOU'RE ALREADY DEADI "One of the year's "A class act ferociously effective." most taut, tightly coiled suspense thrillers." I Vassal David Ansen. Newsweek yjJ" Syndicated Columnist China. JANE FONDA nrihrrrn fpoleunirii tnnuicf surasnn FRI. SAT. SUN.

RtMA) 4H-I1I) ISS IW U. STARTS TONIGHT! A TOBY BIUBIU BENENSON PRODUCTION "BOULEVARD NIGHTS" Slatting RICHARD YNISUEZ MARTA DUBOIS DANNY DE IA PAZ Directed by MICHAEL PRESSMAN Produced by BILL BENENSON Executive Producer TONY BILL Written by DESMOND NAKANO Music by IAL0 SCHIFRIN song -unit mior Performed by GEORGE BENSON TECHNICOLOR iui.Sif..r.is.5f..i IHMtfHllautm. 1 1 4 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS wTOTikW a FRI. SAT. SUN.

STARTS TONIGHT! Sometimes just becoming a woman is an act of courage- PDyRlE BEST ACTRESS BEST ACTOR BEST SCREENPLAY BEST SOtJG BALDWIN, BILLTHORNBURY, REGGIE BANNISTER, KATHY LESTER vd ANGUS SCRIMM The Tall Man EL'S DON COSCARELLI TD.A.COSCARELLI -2 PAUL PEPPERMAN FRED MYROW nd MALCOLM SEAGRAVE Pnnls by CFI sojioTac iro vw sBwot TAVCO EMBASSY PICTURES RImm IBitsd on mit.n.l Icom tnolhw medium) BEST DIRECTOR Fri. SAT. SUN. Th WriKti CoipwMksn prtHnM PIIam Alan aw .11 jt- STARTS APRIL 6TII I a V- hih f- '11 Burstyn Alda fir. "A FILM OF GREAT COURAGE AND OVERWHELMING EMOTIONAL POWER.

A FIERCELY LOVING EMBRACE OF LIFE." -NEWSWEEK, ROBERT DE NIRO Friday, March 30, 1979 Santa Cruz Sentinel 19 'Hair' Is Even Better By RICK CHATENEVER Sentinel Staff Writer During the '60s, "Hair" was anything but a typical Broadway musical. Even though its music did well in the popular mainstream, the youngsters singing along on such latter-day classics as "Good Morning Starshine," "How Can People Be So Heartless?" and "Let the Sun Shine In," might have found themselves as uncomfortable as their parents in the face of the play's irreverent statement about "The Establishment," one piece at a time. Film Review Forged from the social outlook of the flower children of that era, the play offered audiences in a then-polarized society, the options of being outraged (its ground-breaking "nude scene" was probably its most discussed facet), or else being swept up in its tribal, joyful, exuberant vision of a society that would never be, except for a few brief moments in history. Now, more than a decade later, the question is how could they possibly have made a movie of this production, so obviously designed for the stage, and so much a part of the '60s And the answer, currently on view at the Del Mar, is a resounding "very well, thank you!" Directed by Academy Award winner Milos Forman, the film manages the rare feat of being in some ways better than its original inspiration. Just as the play brought incredible vitality to speak to its own times, the film finds unique stores of cinematic ingenuity to locate these, times in a larger context.

With its cast of young, unknown stars-to-be, and its bright, unusual choreography by Twyla Tharp, the film violates most of what we know about musicals on screen, packing an emotional wallop of both joy and pain that uncannily penetrates the essence of the era it depicts. In less skilled hands than Forman's, the film could have fallen into the cliche-ridden realm of nostalgia or else of cheap glorifying. With Forman at the controls though, and with a nifty bit of hindsight scriptwriting by Michael Weller, the film becomes a powerful social statement, producing wave after wave of recognition among those who see it. What there is of a story follows Claude Bukowsky (John Savage), a kid from Oklahoma, who takes a Trailways to New York in preparation for going into the Army. (Why he has to go to New York to do this isn't explained the film, with its free-form plot leaps, could care less about such details.

Once he gets there though, he falls in love with a debutante (Beverly D'Angelo) he sees riding a horse in Central Park, and also falls in with a hippie band led by George Berger (Treat Williams), who give him a crash course in drugs, sex, out-rageousness and other facets of Flower Cosciousness in a few glorious days. There is more. Claude does go into the army, the others follow him to Nevada where he is in basic training, and a Shakespearian turn of coincidence brings home the reality of the Vietnam War in as powerful a conclusion as the spate of "serious" films on that subject currently on the market. But the plot, although surprisingly effective and seemingly an improvement on that of the original stageplay is still merely a skeleton on which to hang the wonderful musical score by Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Gait MacDermot, and to provide the foundation for Forman's cinematic magic act. Forman is definitely a risk-taker, and he doesn't always succeed entirely.

The film opens with a practically perfect American Gothic sequence of Claude's trip from Oklahoma to New York, which shows the director at the height of effortless meticulousness. Other sequences though like a hallucinatory LSD wedding vision reveal somewhat less precision and perspective. Still, even when it doesn't completely make it, Foreman's work is wonderful to watch. The cinematography and choreography actually complement each other, and the film's editing is a source of constant surprises. Those whose lives in the '60s were what "Hair" was all about, or those at least sympathetic to that unexpected time in our recent history will watch this spirited news artistic creation with a full range of chills up the spine, laughter on the lips and tears in the eyes.

BH RURSTVfl nd ALAfl ALDA In'SAME TIME.MtXT YEAR" A Vtmtf MWKhftotert MuNKW Production SciMnpIn by BHM1ABD WADC BMl on tht pi, by BERNARD PmkKodonthe Aeky JUCWTOft OOTTUtO MARVIN HAMUSCH Prwluced by WALTER WRISCH oo MORTOfl QOTTUEB Dtmo tr, ROOtRT OWLUOAM a inkul nrtum Now MIL Book A LARRY PtERCE ROBERT A GOLOSTON FILM "THE BELL JAR" I TfSTTTTT-i II Thwm ibMio. 'Tt Tbm Ml iM Sung ty XMNW "WWHI. MT MARILYN HASSETT JULIE HARRIS ANNE JACKSON BARBARA BARRIE ROBERT KLEIN MARJORIE KELLOGG SYLVIA PLATH mm JERROLD BRANDT, JR. MICHAEL TODDJR. GERALD FRIED 3 i LHSKnTCft-tTf -1W ftfl tW Wi rtiww.

i QLtVOH I 7 IH 111 ROBERT A. GOLDSTON LARRY PEERCE Baaad upon Co-PKNtuctd br TONY LaMARCA ANDREW BONIME TONIGHT SAT. SUN. i'fAVCO EMBASSY PICTUFIES Release isr incri. 8 fVlW41! iZm FRI.

7:1 STARTS TONIGHT! MATINEES SAT. SUN. SAT. SUN. ai THE FILM THE FILM Uc The oriainal space man! NOW PLAYING EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT MATINEES SAT.

SUN. Back Rogers swings back to earftcJ 4110 lays it on the zstn mzrn JLfii 4 Ma t) HAIR Let the sun shine in! -KJCX MSB II TK 254 Cimilff mi IK 3w tt KRMD, NMOA mil OW 90. fcarjiSIIJ'WK) a AW- pcTnaw' mkjtjm 1 PERSKY.n-MICHAEL BUTLER MILOS FORMAN RAGNI, RADO MacDERMOT'S "HAIR" JOHN SAVAGE TREAT WILLIAMS BEVERLY D'ANGELO ANNIE GOLDEN DORSEY WRIGHT- DON DACUS ruw mmfitoM MOOREtRONNIE DYSON -ttWSGEROME RAGNI JAMES RADO SAT. SUN. 1 ui thii ritdcam DHDCDT nRFFWHI Muwrnmnsid nlT RlsnCDMnT riLROUIl AuaPmdoo.

IUUIIM vjtiujii tut Mionci a nMnDircir MIPHAFI WFI FR IWY A THAKr MIDNITE MADNESS FRI. SAT. I FSTTR PERSKY-d MICHAEL BUTLER MILOS FORMAN DUCK HORSEFEATHERS i TTi 1 PG; nniTK WIMO MCtSiH A CIP Feature PanaviSW Technicolor I Original Moto" Ptclwe Sound Tract Album on RCA Reconfe 4 TW jsmwSi iCTA-j 3 FRI. SAT. AT MIDNITE ril W'7 Irf wwrv United Artists $2.30 Can.

$2.00 Stwd.nt A NIGHT OF LAUGHTER AND FUN SAT. SUN..